The Nova project has been developed as a subsea tieback to the Gjøa platform in the Norwegian North Sea at an estimated cost of NOK9.9bn ($1.02bn) as per the PDO submitted by the licensees in 2018
The Nova oil field produces through a tieback to the Gjøa platform. (Credit: Wintershall Dea AG)
Wintershall Dea and its partners Sval Energi and Pandion Energy Norge have started production from the Nova oil field (previously Skarfjell) located in the Norwegian North Sea.
As per the plan for development and operation (PDO) submitted by the partners in 2018, the development costs of the Nova project were estimated at NOK9.9bn ($1.02bn).
Wintershall Dea is the operator of the Nova field with a stake of 45%. Sval Energi has a stake of 45% as well, while Pandion Energy Norge holds the remaining 10% stake.
Wintershall Dea executive board member and chief technology officer Hugo Dijkgraaf said: “With the start-up of the major project Nova, Wintershall Dea is now operating three subsea production fields in Norway.
“We are expanding our subsea technology expertise and meanwhile three further tieback-developments, including Dvalin, are in the planning.
“As a subsea operator we are committed to making the most of the infrastructure that Norway has spent decades developing, as well as maintaining a low-carbon intensity portfolio while producing the energy that Europe needs.”
The two other operated-offshore production fields of Wintershall Dea in Norway are Brage and Vega.
The Nova oil field is located nearly 120km northwest of Bergen and roughly 17km southwest of the Gjøa oil field, which is operated by Neptune Energy.
Wintershall Dea and its partners have developed the Nova field as a subsea tie back to the Gjøa platform. Nova features two subsea templates, one that has three oil producers and the other with three water injectors.
The Nova field, which is located in a water depth of nearly 370m, was discovered in 2012.
The projected recoverable gross reserves from the offshore Norwegian field are 90 million barrels of oil equivalent (boe). The majority of this will be oil.
Oil drawn from the Nova field will be transported via the Gjøa platform via the Troll Oil Pipeline II to Mongstad in Norway. The associated gas from Nova will be exported through the Far North Liquids and Associated Gas System (FLAGS) pipeline to St Fergus in the UK to supply the energy market in Europe.
In May 2022, Wintershall Dea agreed to offload a stake of 6% in the Nova field to OKEA as part of a broader €108m deal. The transaction, which is yet to close, also involves the transfer of Wintershall Dea’s 35.2% stake in the Brage field and its 6.46% stake in the Ivar Aasen field.